Mike Carroll, N4MC, who operated the “Vanity HQ” website for 14 years before taking it dark earlier this year, says the National Silent Key Archive™ of Amateur Radio Operators that he founded remains up and running. It also includes the ability to research a call sign's history, something that had been available on his Vanity HQ website.

“The only thing that was carried over from Vanity HQ would be the unique call lookup,” Carroll told ARRL. On the “Tools” menu, click on “Research Hams” to enter a name or a call sign.The Unique Call Lookup utility permits users to research the history of a given call sign.

The National Silent Key Archive provides an opportunity to add Silent Keys (all submissions are reviewed prior to incorporation into the Archive) and for friends and family of radio amateurs who have passed on to create memorial pages that may include photographs and text.

Carroll points out that the National Silent Key Archive has been up and running for 2 years or so and functioned separately from Vanity HQ, which, he reiterated, he has no plans to resurrect. According to the site, “The purpose of the National Silent Key Archive is to collect and preserve photographs, life event narratives, and data artifacts of deceased Amateur Radio operators, and to make the Archive's digital library available to anyone wishing to view its contents online.

The National Silent Key Archive is a wiki, where anyone can contribute contents or to add a member to The Archive, and without first obtaining a login ID or password.” All content submitted is reviewed by the Archive and edited, if necessary, before being added to its digital library. Each day the site features Silent Keys from a different call district. — Thanks to Dick Norton, N6AA